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SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [Chicago IL]
March 17, 2025
Dear SNAP Members,
We want to share an update from our time here, as we’ve had a productive weekend speaking with members of the press. Yesterday, we had conversations with journalists from CNN and Reuters, and today we are scheduled to meet with representatives from the Associated Press, The New York Times, and The Washington Post in preparation for a press conference this Thursday.
Pope Francis has now been hospitalized for over a month. Though it’s impossible to predict the timing, when Pope Francis dies (or resigns), 137 cardinals from around the world will gather in Rome to select the next pope. This is the only semi-democratic process within the Catholic Church, and we believe it is crucial that U.S. cardinals know that SNAP members are paying attention before they cast their votes. No one knows more about the way the hierarchy has covered up and enabled abuse and stopped investigations than survivors.
We’ve already begun research on the 137 men voting in the next conclave, and SNAP has made it clear that the next pope must meet the following conditions:
- The candidate must have no history of committing or covering up sexual abuse.
- The candidate must support enacting a binding and universal zero tolerance law for abuse and cover-up in canon law on day one of their papacy.
There are 10 Catholic cardinals voting in the next conclave who have worked in the United States. We are encouraging all SNAP members to take action by calling and writing to these cardinals, letting them know why they are unfit to be the next pope and what we want them to do in the next conclave. We have prepared a sample letter and script for a phone call with ideas for what to say.
Here are the names and contact information for the U.S. cardinals who will vote in the next conclave:
Cardinal Raymond Burke
Prefect Emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura (Retired)
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Diocese of La Crosse, Archdiocese of St.Louis
As bishop of LaCrosse, Burke kept a greater percentage of priests with reports of sexual assault in active ministry than any other bishop in the United States, even after direct and documented admissions of guilt. He never reported any of the dozens of known priest offenders in La Crosse to police or civil authorities. As archbishop of St Louis, Burke transferred dozens of proven, admitted, and credibly accused predator priests from around the US to live in church facilities or private residences. At least three were found to be working in city parishes and a local Catholic college. Burke co-wrote an open letter for publication and distribution equating homosexuality and pedophilia.
Contact: https://www.cardinalburke.com/, (Click on “Connect” and “Contact”)
Cardinal Blase Cupich
Archbishop of Chicago
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of Omaha, Diocese of Rapid City, Diocese of Spokane, Archdiocese of Chicago
Cardinal Cupich has repeatedly minimized the clergy abuse crisis and failed to act decisively against known abusers. While leading the USCCB’s abuse committee (2002–2005, 2008–2011), he downplayed the issue, falsely claiming in 2010 that abuse was no longer happening. After the 2023 Illinois Attorney General’s report, he denied awareness of 62 priests and religious brothers accused of abuse, despite his own archdiocese providing the names. As bishop of Spokane, he failed to intervene when seven accused clergy lived on Gonzaga University’s campus. In 2017, he secretly transferred Fr. Richard McGrath, OSA, despite an active police investigation into McGrath’s possession of child pornography and sexual abuse of minors, only removing him after law enforcement exposed the case.
Contact: Phone: 312-534-8200; Email: archchicago@archchicago.org, archbishop@archchicago.org
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo
Archbishop Emeritus of Galveston-Houston (Retired)
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Diocese of Pittsburgh, Diocese of Sioux City, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Iowan survivors called on DiNardo to resign as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for his role in concealing the admitted abuse of two priests while bishop of Sioux City. As archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the USCCB, DiNardo left accused priests in active ministry. The day DiNardo released a list of credibly accused priests in Galveston-Houston, he allowed a priest on the list to lead mass. After a woman accused DiNardo’s vicar general, Msgr. Frank Rossi of sexual manipulation in 2016, DiNardo told her he would not counsel women again, yet still reassigned Rossi to another diocese with the agreement of Beaumont Bishop Curtis Guillory.
Contact: Phone: 713-659-5461; Email: info@archgh.org, jdycus@archgh.org (Communications)
Cardinal Timothy Dolan
Archbishop of New York
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of St.Louis, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Diocese of Green Bay, Archdiocese of New York
As auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, Dolan was assigned in 2002 to investigate priests accused of sexual abuse. He kept at least three priests who had been charged in civil court in ministry. While archbishop of Milwaukee, Dolan failed to report direct admissions by clergy sex offenders concerning prosecutable cases of child rape and left several credibly accused offenders in ministry. In preparation for filing bankruptcy in Milwaukee, Dolan sought permission from the Vatican in a 2007 letter to transfer $57 million in funds to a cemetery trust fund for “improved protection” of church assets against abuse claims. As archbishop of New York, Dolan quietly retired offender priests without notifying parishioners, shared a press release on his blog calling SNAP “liars” and “phony victims,” and lobbied to block the Child Victims Act.
Contact: Phone: 212-371-1000, Mailing Address: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Office of the Cardinal. Archdiocese of New York, 1011 First Avenue, New York, NY 10022
Cardinal Kevin Farrell
Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of Washington, Diocese of Dallas
As vicar general and moderator of the curia of the Washington archdiocese, Farrell acted as former Cardinal McCarrick’s chief deputy and lived with McCarrick from 2002-2006 when the Archdiocese of Newark paid out an $80,000 settlement to one of his victims. He still claimed he never had “any reason to suspect” the abuse allegations against his friend and boss. (Earlier in his career, Farrell was also a senior figure in the Legionaries of Christ, led by notorious abuser Marcial Maciel.) In 2019, a man sued the Diocese of Dallas for abuse as a minor and an adult by Fr. Timothy Heines. The lawsuit alleged that Farrell failed to report the abuse to diocesan review board or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, telling Heines’ parish that he was resigning due to “boundary issues” with a “consenting adult.”
Contact: Phone: +390669869300; Email: info@laityfamilylife.va
Cardinal Wilton Gregory
Archbishop Emeritus of Washington (Retired)
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of Chicago, Diocese of Belleville, Archdiocese of Atlanta, Archdiocese of Washington, Diocese of St.Thomas
As bishop of Belleville, Gregory was found in contempt of court in 2004 for refusing to turn over records of an accused priest named in two civil lawsuits. In a sworn deposition, a Belleville diocese official testified that Gregory failed to turn over key documents and personnel files to the diocesan review board. In 2018, Gregory wrote to Catholics of Atlanta asking them to lobby against a bill that would extend the civil statute of limitations for clergy abuse victims. As archbishop of Washington, Gregory challenged the constitutionality of the Maryland Child Victims Act in a motion to throw out a class-action lawsuit brought by three victims. Gregory was recently cleared by the Vatican in a Vos Estis complaint made against him for an allegation of assault by a Washington priest.
Contact: Phone: 301-853-5350; Email: schmutzd@adw.org, (Executive Assistant to the Archbishop Emeritus)
Cardinal James Harvey
Archpriest of St.Paul Outside-the-Walls Basilica
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of Milwaukee
As a former member of the Vatican State department and the Prefect of the Papal Household from 1998 to 2012, Harvey used his position and influence to actively promote the advancement of known offender clergy from the United States. He actively pushed for Msgr. Daniel Pater’s promotion in the Catholic Diplomatic Corps, in defiance of explicit warnings from Pater’s own bishop, Lawrence Breslin, that Pater was ineligible due to his abuse of a 14 year old girl. Harvey also defended and supported Cardinal Bernard Law even after Law was forced to resign in disgrace over his role in covering up clergy abuse in Boston. Furthermore, Harvey backed Theodore McCarrick’s appointment to Washington, D.C., despite reports of McCarrick’s sexual misconduct—while personally benefiting from McCarrick’s financial gifts.
Contact: Phone: +390669880800; Email: info@basilicasanpaolo.org
Cardinal Robert McElroy
Archbishop of Washington
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of San Francisco, Diocese of San Diego, Archdiocese of Washington
McElroy ignored Richard Sipe’s 2016 letter informing him of allegations against McCarrick of abuse of priests and seminarians. After criminal charges were filed against a priest of the San Diego diocese for ritual rape of adult victim, Rachel Mastrogiacomo, McElroy refused to cooperate by sharing the priest’s records, even though the diocese had knowingly reassigned him after agreeing to pay the victim’s therapy costs in 2014. A lawsuit was filed against McElroy’s San Diego diocese in 2019 for fraudulently transferring 291 properties into real estate holding companies before filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying out clergy abuse victims. Victims’ attorneys in San Diego criticized Pope Francis’ appointment of McElroy as archbishop of Washington calling him “anything but progressive when it comes to protecting victims of child sexual assault in San Diego.”
Contact: Phone: 301-853-5350; Email: archbishop@adw.org
Cardinal Robert Prevost
Prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Order of St.Augustine (Augustinians), Chicago
As provincial of the Augustinians, Prevost allowed Father James Ray, a priest then accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been restricted since 1991, to reside at the Augustinians’ St. John Stone Friary in Chicago in 2000, despite its proximity to a Catholic elementary school. When Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, three victims reported to civil authorities in 2022 after there was no movement on their canonical case filed through the diocese. Victims have since claimed Prevost failed to open an investigation, sent inadequate information to Rome, and that the diocese allowed the priest to continue saying mass.
Contact: Phone: +390669884217; Mailing Address: Palazzo della Congregazioni, 00193 Roma, Piazza Pio XII, 10
Cardinal Joseph Tobin
Archbishop of Newark
U.S. Dioceses/Religious Orders: Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), Milwaukee, Archdiocese of Detroit, Archdiocese of Chicago, Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Archdiocese of Newark
In 2018, a journalist wrote that Tobin told him after arriving in Newark that he heard “rumors” about McCarricks beach house, but never bothered to check them out, saying the story was too “incredulous” to believe. Months after Tobin made a pledge of transparency in 2019, the Archdiocese of Newark instructed seminary leader Joseph Reilly, once McCarrick’s secretary, not to answer questions about a 2014 allegation of sexual harassment at Seton Hall University. Despite an independent recommendation that Tobin should remove Reilly from leadership, Seton Hall, under the authority of Tobin, hired Reilly as its new president in 2024.
Contact: Phone: 973-497-4000; Email: Rev.Anthony.Palombo@rcan.org, (Priest secretary to the cardinal)
Please forward this to fellow survivors, friends, and supporters of SNAP.
With gratitude,
The SNAP Global Policy and Communications Teams
Shaun Dougherty
James Egan
Peter Isely
Sarah Pearson